Jingle Bells

Jingle Bells

Jingle All The Way

Travis and Connor Stroll had dressed Chiron to look like Santa Claus over night and for some reason, Chiron didn't take the disguises off. Maybe he liked it there or just wasn't bothered to. Either way, Chiron was ringing the little green Santa bell Travis gave him to announce breakfast.

As Jason walked to The Mess Hall, he already felt christmassy. The whole Camp was magically decorated into something that resembled Santa's Village. Each cabin had unique ornaments and flashing signs to advertise Christmas and their Godly parent. Snowflakes fell lightly over the camp making the place look beautiful and white. In the middle of the camp stood a huge, Times Square worthy Christmas tree with delicate ornaments on them and strings of bright bulbs. As Jason was told, the tree was the pride of Camp Half Blood every year. Gods, Goddesses, monsters, mythology creatures come from all over the world to visit this tree. Although he's from Camp Jupiter, he felt proud being in Camp Half Blood. In Camp Jupiter, nobody really celebrates christmas so their camp looks pretty much the same all through the season.

Christmas music blasted from boom boxes the Hermes Cabin placed everywhere. Jason found himself singing along with the lyrics of Jingle Bells.

"Jingle Bells. Batman Smells. Robin laid an egg." Jason found somebody singing along him in a scratchy voice.

"Leo!" Jason playfully punched his best friend's arm. "You ruined the song."

"No," Leo corrected him. "I made it better."

"Whatever." Jason was used to Leo's attitude.

"I heard that they're cooking a robin egg for breakfast." Leo joked. "You get it? Robin laid an egg?"

Jason groaned. Leo had stopped his Camp Jupiter puns yesterday and of course, the christmas ones are next. "Where's Piper?" He asked quickly to change the topic before Leo goes on with another joke.

"Maybe in the Mess Hall already? Why did you ask?"

"Because she's our friend."

Leo laughed. "Friend? More like girlfriend."

"Not true!" Jason exclaimed defensively. "We're not dating, we're aren't even official. We're just friends."

"Why don't you just ask her out?"

"I don't like her." Jason replied quickly.

"Liar." Leo scoffed.

"Hey guys!" Piper tapped the boys' shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

Leo grinned and started "Well just about how-"

Jason blushed and punched Leo's balls hard.

"OW! What was that for?"

"We're talking about nothing." Jason said answering Piper's question. "Just about how lovely the camp looks during the Christmas season, right?" he glared at Leo.

"Right. Christmas decoration. Absolutely beautiful."

"Happy World AIDS day! Today is the day where we remember all those poor AIDS patients and hope that they'll recover etc etc. Anyway, here's a sticker." One of the Apollo kids stuck a pink ribbon sticker on Jason's shirt and sauntered off to find his next victim. (AN: Apollo is the God of Healing right? I know Asclepius is the God of Medicine and stuff but since they're not really mentioned in the PJO and HoO books, I decided not the bring them in.)

"December 1st." A daughter of Tyche announced loudly. "My mother is feeling sorry for Annabeth so she'll be having good fortune today! Not as in succeeding in finding Percy Jackson, but as in getting a bigger portion of steak than everybody for dinner!"

"And oh my gods! Don't you think it'll be perfect if they kiss under a mistletoe? It'll be so sweet!" An Aphrodite girl was squealing to Lacy.

Yup. A pretty typical day. Leo had been pestering him to ask Piper out but really, it's nothing new. Except the Christmas season had gotten into everyone. Everybody seemed less grumpier than yesterday. It might be because of the cheerful recorded choir singing in the background or just the warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that Christmas is right around the corner.

Despite his protests on asking Piper out, Jason actually wanted to since November. He just needed the perfect scenario to ask her out. He wanted to serenade her or do something formal and amazing on a special day,so none of them would forget about it. He thought of asking the love guru, Lacy or somebody from the Aphrodite Cabin for ideas but they can never keep a secret.

Watching Piper from the corner of his eye made him want to go over there and hug her. She looked gorgeous wearing her winter garment under the snowy skies. As she was talking to Annabeth, Jason watched her lips moved. They were mesmerizing, magical, he could stare at them the whole day. And her eyes, Jason loved them. He could spend his life studying Piper's eyes. Every time Piper's eye changes color, Jason felt butterflies kicking in his stomach again.

To be honest, Jason had never felt like this to anyone, except for Reyna. To this day, Jason still isn't sure who Reyna is to him. Friend? Girlfriend? Sure, Reyna is close and Jason can confirmed that he used to have a crush on her. Used to? That's right, Jason isn't sure how he felt about her now, especially when he met Piper.

Jason is still waiting for the perfect gift idea to come to him. Not something too tacky or cheesy, just something Piper would simply love.

"Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!" Travis and Connor Stroll came down in a magically enchanted santa's sleigh throwing present boxes at everyone.

"Travis Stoll!" Katie screamed as a box hit her head landing into a splattered strawberry.

"Sorry, Katie Kat. Need another one?" Travis yelled merrily throwing another box down to the fields destroying more strawberries.

"Hey, Jason." Piper smiled at the Roman demigod beside her.

"Hi." Jason said. He felt uncomfortable being so close to Piper. Maybe it's because she's too pretty, or because he likes her too much.

"Been christmas shopping yet?"

"Nope." He shook his head feeling rather awkward. He did think it's a bit early to do so but now Piper mentioned it, maybe he should go soon.

"I have." Piper sighed. "Dear half-siblings."

Jason laughed. "Well, I'm going to help Chiron put up the last bits of decorations, want to come?"

"Sorry," She shook her head. "I have to go help Lacy pick out the perfect gift for her father."

Jason found himself feeling rather disappointed that he didn't get to spend more time with Piper but shook it off. It's not like the sole purpose of her life is to spend time with him. "See you later?"

"Yup!" Piper grinned and walked towards her cabin.

"Oh my gods! Piper!" Lacy practically screamed and popped out of nowhere.

"Chill! What happened?" Piper giggled at the sight of Lacy in this totally high state.

"Did you see the parcel?" Lacy squealed as she dragged Piper towards their cabin. Normally, Lacy isn't a fast runner but if it's something to do with her crush or anything she loved, she is about as fast as a cheetah.

"What parcel?" Piper frowned as she saw a brown oddly-wrapped box in front of the cabin with 'Piper McLean' marked in huge Sharpie's markers.

"This is obviously an early christmas gift from an admirer!" Lacy's eyes widen with excitement.

"Hold on, this is probably something from my dad. How do you know it's from somebody who likes me?"

Lacy stared at her as if she didn't catch the camp's latest gossip even though it's been around for weeks. "If it's from your dad, he'll probably mark 'From dad' on the box or somehow tell you it's from him! Duh!"

"Don't jump into conclusions." Piper told her half-sister. "You never know."

"Well open it!" Lacy urged handing her the parcel. "Ooh, this is heavy."

Not knowing what to expect, Piper opened the box and found a potted miniature tree, about one foot tall with a pear hanging from it's leaves. Also on the branches was a wooden bird. "What?" She muttered confused. Looking carefully at the wrappings and the tree, she found no clue of who gave this gift to her.

As Piper examined the present closely, Lacy was in an uncontrollable state. "Can you believe it? Somebody just gave you a christmas gift! I can't even - who likes you? This is obviously from somebody who has a crush on you, if it isn't they'd put their name on it. Do you know what this means? I got to put the mistletoe up! And this is just so cute!"

"I don't even get why somebody would send me a pear plant with a fake bird on it."

"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge on a pear tree." Lacy sang. "This obviously means that this boy wants you to be his true love and the wooden bird is a partridge. The tree has pears on it so it's a pear tree."

"Aren't pear trees like humongous? I can't fit this in my room." Piper protested.

"I don't think this is a proper pear tree. Probably just some small one-foot tree and your admirer poke a hole through the leaves to stick a pear on it." Lacy shrugged. "I'm not very bright, go ask Annabeth or something."

Piper looked at her tree with the pears and bird on it. She felt fortunate to have a secret admirer who would give her these cool, christmas themed gifts but also felt nervous. Who is her admirer? Either way, Piper can tell that this would be a memorable christmas.

On the first day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

A partridge on a pear tree.

AN: So a few days ago, me and my friends were reciting the 12 days of christmas (yes, it was November. We do have to brush up on our christmas carols!) and I just got this idea in my head to write this story! I'll be publishing each chapter on the precise date the chapter is meant to be happening on :)

Since it's December 1st, it is technically the start of the Christmas season right? Merry extremely early christmas everyone!

~Kisses, Emily